Call for intervention with extortions in Cape Town

02 November 2020

Statement by the Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith

City calls for urgent intervention from SAPS and criminal justice system to combat extortion and racketeering

The City of Cape Town is frustrated with the slow response to the announcement by Minister Bheki Cele in September to launch a steering committee or task team to curb the extortion experienced by businesses.

While the original media and public focus was largely on the Cape Town CBD and surrounds, it has in the meantime become very clear that businesses and residents in Khayelitsha and other communities are experiencing even more significant extortion from gangsters.

The City has been informed of massive and pervasive extortion of foreign and locally owned businesses in Khayelitsha, including:

• extortion of protection money from construction sites, ECDs, people with backyarder accommodation and even from City facilities
• the seizure of public transport and private vehicles for ransom in Bloekombos, Wallacedene, Khayelitsha and Gugulethu

This also includes interference by political parties and their leaders who have disrupted construction sites in Mitchells Plain, attempting to interfere with tenders.

Nearly two months ago, I met with Minister Cele to talk about the growing concerns of extortion expressed to me by members of the public in Cape Town.

In an effort to address the problem in an integrated approach, I called for a meeting with the Minister of Police so that we could work together to find a solution in the interest of community safety.

This request was initially facilitated by Western Cape Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz and followed up shortly thereafter by a broader meeting with SAPS, the Provincial Government, the City and other stakeholders.

At the conclusion of this meeting and during the press conference, Minister Cele committed to a multi-pronged approach to the crisis that would include all three spheres of government. 

He pointed out that this would be a first-of-its-kind intervention as we have not previously seen this level of collaboration on an official level and that drawing Provincial and City resources into such a criminal justice crisis was a first. 

Currently, collaboration is limited to coordination through the Provincial Joint Operations Centre (PROVJOC) and informal or unofficial collaboration between staff on issues such as metal theft and gang violence.

The City was excited about these prospects as we noted that the criminal justice system has not successfully risen to the challenge of organised crime and international examples show that these matters are best responded to through multi-disciplinary task teams with many agencies collaborating.

However, six weeks have passed and no task team or steering committee has been convened and the City has still not received any information on how we can assist SAPS in tackling this problem.  

The City has compiled much information relating to these issues, which it could make available to SAPS in relation to current rates and municipal accounts records, various license and permit applications, fines and notices, CCTV footage as well as data relating to operational information sourced daily by staff during routine work. 

We believe that we are able to assist SAPS and the criminal justice system in protecting the public from this scourge and bringing the racketeers and extortionists to justice.

We note that SAPS Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Operations, Major General Manci, has issued an operational instruction to the Cluster Commander and the Station Commanders and has forwarded it to the City. 

Since the rapidly-convened meeting this week, we are aware of the crime prevention approach targeting the known cases that have been put together to address the extortion, but we want to indicate that the City has not been included in any of the planning or operations and that the approach being taken is not the approach that was decided on in the meeting with Minister Cele and did not appear to be adequately targeted. 

Essentially, they are relying on following up on reported cases of extortion; and due to the significant threat to victims of extortion, very few such cases are ever opened and we therefore expect quite limited results.

We are now awaiting a briefing to assist us in understanding what investigations and prosecutions are underway.

The City also wants to point out that it is aware of the “Safer Cities Steering Committee” and wants to clarify that the Safer Cities initiative precedes the commitment by Minister Cele and that its scope was not intended to, nor does its objective in any meaningful way, encompass the challenge of responding to the extortion rackets plaguing our citizens.

The City has, through its political office bearers and officials, repeatedly followed up with the national minister and senior SAPS members to request the urgent initiation of the task team or steering committee.

I therefore want to call on Minister Cele to intervene urgently and stress the seriousness of the extortion racketeering and the negative impact it will have on economic growth and safety.

I therefore call on SAPS to convene the task team or steering committee on extortion and racketeering which Minister Cele committed to without any further delay. 

The organised crime relating to extortion will not be addressed meaningfully by visible policing – it requires detection, investigation and thereafter successful prosecution to ensure that the extortionists are held accountable.

The powers to undertake intelligence-driven and criminal investigations are limited to SAPS and the NPA. 

Although the City is very eager to see improvement and resolution of this crisis, our powers are limited to supporting SAPS and applying pressure on national government to follow through on its promises, which is what we are now doing.

In the interim, the City has put together an extortions hotline where any person can report incidents of extortion. The number is 021 424 7715.

The tip offs will be directed to the relevant policing agency to respond.

Callers can remain anonymous should they prefer to withhold their identity for safety concerns. 

This will allow us to keep a record on the scope and nature of the problem, which we can present to the Provincial MEC for Community Safety, the Premier and Major General Manci, to ensure that we hold the criminal justice system accountable for the progress being made to end this criminal conduct.

End

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office